In a major blow to an advertisement firm as well as the municipal authorities and Maharashtra police, the Supreme Court has approved the removal of 86 traffic kiosks and pedestals in Mumbai that were utilised for hoardings.
In a major blow to an advertisement firm as well as the municipal authorities and Maharashtra police, the Supreme Court has approved the removal of 86 traffic kiosks and pedestals in Mumbai that were utilised for hoardings.
Rejecting the appeal filed by Clear Channel Mumbai Limited (CCML), a company that had been allowed to erect the kiosks and pedestals for Mumbai cops and use these installations for its ad campaigns, the court stated there was nothing wrong in dropping the NOC (no-objection certificate) issued by the authorities earlier.
The CCML had utilized 86 eyecatching spots at various traffic junctions.
The court also defended a previous Bombay HC directive which upheld the withdrawal-of-sanction order. A bench comprising Justice G S Singhvi and Justice Sudhanshu Jyoti Mukhopadhyaya stated that in future, if the authorities invited applications from eligible persons to participate in the sanction process for putting up traffic pedestals and kiosks, the ad agency could not claim preference over other bidders.
Taking note of the fact that previously the civic authorities and police had not called for public participation in the allotment of ad sites, the topmost court said that in future, their decision “shall be taken keeping in view the relevant statutory and constitutional provisions and larger public interest.”
The judges also reiterated two paragraphs of the high court judgment, saying that CCML received “the benefit of placing kiosks at prominent traffic junctions based simply on their application, without inviting the people at large for the said participation.”
The HC had also said that ultimately, after considering the facts and circumstances, if the authorities had withdrawn the NOC, the court “would not like to assist a person who has got such a benefit by a backdoor method.”
The HC had also pointed out that CCML had reaped the benefits in an unjust manner and enjoyed them for a considerable period, without any correlating benefit to the state. CCML had originally put up electronic display machines for traffic messages and signal timers, and it had been given permission to do so up to 2015.
The PIL filed in the HC had alleged that the advertisements erected by CCML were part of a scam worth Rs1,200 crore.
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